As mentioned on Saturday I went to the flower festival at Crowfield church mainly for the bookstall 😃
The theme of the Flower Festival this year was Children's Nursery Rhymes and Poems and I took some photos because I'm always impressed by flower arranging which is something I've never learned to do. (Didn't photograph all the arrangements as there were 30+ around this small church.)
The guide leaflet had the history of some of the rhymes which was interesting.
Hickory Dickory Dock below, was first found published in 1744. It might have been based on a clock in Exeter Cathedral
Old MacDonald had a Farm, below. The earliest version dates from 1706 in an opera called "The Kingdom of the Birds or Wonders of the Sun"
The Owl and The Pussy Cat, below, is one of Edward Lear's nonsense poems from 1871.
Ten Green Bottles, below, is a very old counting song going back as far as the C14. (We sang this endlessly at Primary School!)
Hey Diddle Diddle, The Cat and the Fiddle, below, is thought to date back to at least C16 and gave rise to many Cat and Fiddle pub names.
Ring-a-ring of Roses, below, probably composed in the late C17 and may refer to the Plague with the roses being a red rash and the sneezing being an symptom.
And each side of the porch a Teddy Bears Picnic was happening. The melody was composed in 1907 and lyrics added in 1932.
Outside they had a tombola and plant stalls and of course the big gazebo full of second-hand books. Not as many books as they sometimes have, although they'd got lots in boxes under the table which they said they would put out later when they had room - which always seems an odd thing to me as they can't sell books unless people can see them!
Anyway, I picked up four for 50p each = a Persephone - Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski, another of Alexander McCall Smith's stand alone books - My Italian Bulldozer (what a curious title!), H.E Bates -Fair Stood The Wind For France and a children's book just because I liked the picture on the front cover. The book is a bit tatty so after it's been read I'll probably add that cover picture to my scrapbook.
The Church is open everyday so I will go back for a proper Church visit and then I'll carry on through the back road to Coddenham because Crowfield was a Chapel of Ease to Coddenham well into the 20th Century.
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to distance away. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately built as such, being more accessible to some parishioners than the main church.
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Sue
Gorgeous flower arrangements. My one gift is being able to recite The Owl and the Pussycat right through.
ReplyDeleteI only know the first bit
DeleteThose arrangements are more like installations! What a tremendous amount of work has gone into them. Most nursery rhymes have interesting origins.
ReplyDeleteMany hours of work there I think
DeleteLittle boy lost is such a good book!
ReplyDeleteI have a bad feeling that I might have tried it at sometime and not finished. I shall try again
DeleteHow thoughtful to build a chapel of ease.
ReplyDeleteCrowfield church is not even in the village of Crowfield so No idea who went to it in the past
DeleteVery imaginative floral arrangements and I think I like the farmer one the best due to the flowers and foliage being used. Catriona
ReplyDeleteLots of hours of work involved in the Old MacDonald
DeleteMy favourite is The Teddy Bears Picnic for its simplicity.
ReplyDeleteThey looked lovely each side of the porch
DeleteWhat a brilliant theme for the flower festival. The history of these old rhymes is fascinating, although often it is speculation. Ionie Opie's books are interesting collections of these rhymes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there will ever be new nursery rhymes?
DeletePeople are so clever! What a fun concept! The word "tombola" is new to me; I had to look it up.
ReplyDeleteI liked Fair Stood the Wind for France but after you read it you will think all the current WWII books are overwritten. And some of them are! Although I can't remember if you have read Dear Mrs Bird - one of my favorite books in recent years. I am nearly done with the third and will be late for work if I decide to read the last ten pages...
I think I tried it when first published but didn't get on with it - I know I never finished it
DeleteSome lovely arrangements there, and yes it's always a bit strange when people don't at least have all the boxes of books visible to browsers when the table is full. I usually have the best covers face up on my table and then have the boxes next to the table for people to rummage through, then I pull up one at a time as gaps appear on the table. We sell a lot at car boot sales doing it that way.
ReplyDeleteI hope I didn't miss something exciting from under the tables!
DeleteI loved the creative theme: "Nursery Rhymes and Poems," and I recognized most that you featured. "Ten Bottles" was new to me and I looked for it online. Chapel of Ease is a new concept to me. I'll look forward to learning more.
ReplyDeleteDid you find the tune online? - we used to sing it a lot at primary school, I suppose it was good for counting up and down
DeleteYes, I found the tune and words online. Very catchy and no doubt helps young children learn to count.
DeleteWhat a lovely idea for a flower festival. I also love the history behind the Nursery Rhymes and I love the Old Macdonald display! 😁
ReplyDeleteThe origins of nursery rhymes have always intrigued me.
ReplyDeleteOh, you've found another H.E. Bates. I looked up the other three books. All of them are books I think that I would enjoy. I actually know that I'm going to be homebound for a time with my husband, and so I ordered them from Betterworld Books.
ReplyDeleteLittle Boy Lost is a wonderful book so well written, so moving.
ReplyDelete